Extremism is on our shores and deradicalisation must start in our communities February 9, 2022 Last month, a 44-year-old in Texas took four people hostage in a synagogue. The perpetrator, a British man by the name of Malik Faisal Akram, was shot dead on the scene after a standoff with police. Despite military campaigns against terrorist groups and government programmes aimed at stymieing radicalisation at home, the question of how [...]
State intervention can boost our economy but only the private sector can rebalance it February 9, 2022 The government’s long awaited levelling up white paper was met with a lukewarm reception last week. One of the main complaints was that there was not enough – or in fact any – new money for the regions. Many localities have become stuck with low levels of productivity and, as a consequence, low levels of [...]
Letters: No time to call fin on fintech February 8, 2022 [RE: UK fintech investment hits £27.5bn, a sevenfold increase in just twelve months, yesterday] The sevenfold increase in UK fintech investment shouldn’t come as a surprise. If anything, the turmoil of the past year has highlighted the glaring need to move away from pre-pandemic infrastructure and embrace technology as the UK builds more efficient trading [...]
Explainer-in-brief: Gloria Gaynor and the other new aides of No10 February 8, 2022 After a slew of aides at No10 quit last week amongst the turmoil of the Sue Gray report, Downing Street has spun the resignations as Boris Johnson “taking charge” of staffing problems. Steve Barclay will take the vacant role of chief of staff. He’s an old ally of Rishi Sunak and looks ready to steady [...]
There is a light at the end of the London underground if we fight for its funding February 8, 2022 Last week, Transport for London was given another short extension on its emergency funding deal. This is hardly anything except another sticking plaster solution, stretched out a little longer, rather than a long-term programme to invest in London’s transport system. This came the same week that TfL issued a budget update setting out a potentially [...]
The unofficial economy of gossip has always been a powerful lure of the City February 8, 2022 The City has weathered an almighty storm over the last two years. And yet, there is still a strong appetite for people to come back to their offices even in the midst of so much uncertainty. The pros and cons of home working, hybrid and the office have been discussed at length. It has become [...]
Shunting civil servants around the UK will never deliver what enterprise can February 8, 2022 You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose. Advice from the past that seems pertinent to a government committing levelling up into law. What was a slogan is now “12 national missions” published in a white paper last week, to provide a central mission for government to deliver economic parity to all regions of the [...]
Explainer-in brief: A Winter games of politics and controversy February 7, 2022 Last Friday, the Beijing Winter Olympics kicked off with a whirl of lights and colour. But it was also surrounded by a storm of controversy which threatens to overshadow the games. A handful of nations, including the US and the UK, have staged a diplomatic boycott of the event (meaning athletes, but no officials will [...]
The City thrives on predictability as well as agility and we must protect this post-Brexit February 7, 2022 This week marks a pivotal moment for financial services in post-Brexit Britain. More than two years since the UK formally left the EU, the completion of the Future Regulatory Framework Review consultation on Wednesday will herald long expected changes to the financial service sector framework. The UK’s regulatory regime is widely regarded as one of the [...]
Rishi Sunak’s cost-of-living hand out is a classic example of short-term, overburdened Treasury brain February 7, 2022 Last week, as the cake crumbs were cleared away and the fizz went out of the champagne, there was a serious announcement from the chancellor, Rishi Sunak. There had been an energy crisis looming, prices set to soar, and the government knew that this would feed into a damaging narrative that the cost of living [...]